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*** NEW CARICOM SECRETARY-GENERAL. Irwin LaRoque, 56, is replacing Sir Edwin Carrington as secretary-general of the Caribbean Community (Caricom). LaRoque has been Caricom’s assistant secretary-general for trade and economic integration since September 2005. Prior to that he was a high-ranking civil servant in Dominica. Two issues in particular have been highlighted for the new secretary-general: the need to address overstaffing and lack of ability at the secretariat, and the need to boost adoption of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the final court of appeal by more member states.
*** UPTO US$5BN MISSING FROM TURKS & CAICOS TREASURY. In a speech delivered on 14 July, the UK’s minister for Overseas Territories, Henry Bellingham, said that between US$2.5bn and US$5bn was missing from the TCI treasury as a result of the ousted Michael Misick government selling undervalued land. During his speech, Bellingham said that the next milestone on the way to new elections will be an ordnance on electoral reform. New constituency boundaries are to be drawn as a result of a consensus, and a formalization of the path to ‘belongership’ is still needed. There are some fears locally that the UK might use this as a way of diluting the native electorate.
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